§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Walthamstow of 27 February, the European Economic Council and the Assembly are under an obligation to accept transfers from the negative reserve as to substantive budget lines; and if such negative reserves are to be used only in the event of there being equivalent amounts of unused expenditure.
§ Mr. BrookeAs in the 1986 precedent, the Council and the European Parliament have agreed to enter negative reserves in the 1987 budget. These are to be cancelled on the basis of transfer proposals which the Commission has undertaken to bring forward by the end of October of this year.
By their nature transfer proposals require the existence of unused expenditure in the budget.